Bells Trivia

1. A carillon is a musical instrument composed of at least 23 cup-shaped bells. If fewer than 23 bells are present, the resulting instrument is called a:

From Quiz A 200-Ton Instrument: The Carillon

Answer: chime

A further definitional requirement, as codified by the Guild of Carillonneurs in North America (GCNA), is that the bells be "arranged in chromatic series and played from a keyboard permitting control of expression through variation of touch..." These clauses prevent any mere collection of 23 bells from being called "a carillon".

From Quiz Ring My Bell

Answer: P. T. Barnum

Barnum discovered handbells and ringers in Wales. He dressed the ringers in Swiss costumes (to further his sales pitch) and booked them on an American tour, ca. 1840s. Some people still think that handbells are Swiss...a tribute to the legacy of a powerful salesman and showman. Barnum also promoted soprano Jenny Lind. Annie Oakley belongs to the legacy of the Wild West Show and Franz Liszt was a 19th century phenomenon in his own right. The Liszt craze was known as Lisztomania and to my knowledge received no help from P. T.

From Quiz Bells and Bellringing

Answer: Campanology

Most ringers don't actually use the word: they just call it bellringing!

From Quiz Can You Ever Have Too Much Cowbell?

Answer: Too Fast For Love

I've never come across an album with as much cowbell on as "Too Fast For Love". In fact, it comes close to having too much cowbell, but not quite. I wonder if Tommy Lee had just bought one the day they started recording? It's a fantastic debut and one of my favourite albums of the era, not only for the cowbell but also the raw sound and artless songs. The three red herrings are all 1981 debut albums: "Welcome to Hell" is English metal pioneers Venom's statement of intent. "A New Form of Beauty" is actually a collection of singles released by Irish avant-garde pop group Virgin Prunes. The singles were apparently meant to make up a whole project called "A New Form of Beauty". "In the Garden" is Eurythmics' debut album.

From Quiz A 200-Ton Instrument: The Carillon

Answer: Carillonneur or carillonist

The term "carillonneur", derived from the French language, is preferred not only by European players but by many North American players, as shown by the name of the best-known players' association, the Guild of Carillonneurs in North America.

From Quiz Ring My Bell

Answer: change ringing of tower bells

In 17th century England, change ringing (mathematical formulae of bell tones...i.e. Westminster Chimes heard in your clock or your doorbell) was performed by ringers playing the tower bells in the church belfries. Drawbacks to change ringing rehearsals included cold, drafty belfries in which to rehearse and annoyed townspeople who didn't like all the noise. So a portable (and quieter) alternative evolved in the form of the tuned handbell. Many pubs in 17th, 18th and 19th century England had sets of handbells available so that the change ringers could sit by the fire, purchase a pint or two apiece, and practice their changes. Eventually the melodic potential for the handbell was realized and non-change music was developed for the instruments.

From Quiz Bells and Bellringing

Answer: Sally

No-one really knows why it is called that. There are other, local terms for it; one I have occasionally heard is "tuffin".

From Quiz Can You Ever Have Too Much Cowbell?

Answer: Pavement

There's quite a lot of interesting sounds going on "The Hook" although the basic song is very straightforward. The cowbell really makes it though. Malkmus was a founding member of Pavement and played on all their stuff until they broke up in 1999. Pavement were quite adventurous as far as percussion goes and even had a member, Bob Nastanovich, whose main role originally was to help the wayward drummer in time. The Fall's frontman Mark E. Smith has been rather rude about Pavement on several occasions. His main gripe seems to be the allegation that Pavement were just Fall-wannabes. The Fall also dabbled in the art of the cowbell, a great example being on "Mere Pseud Mag. Ed" from the fantastic album "Hex Enduction Hour".

From Quiz A 200-Ton Instrument: The Carillon

Answer: Make concordant harmonies

In Europe, single bells had long been used to call the populace to church services; it was natural that as the art of casting bells improved, the use of multiple bells of differing pitch would become a sign of increasing wealth and prestige, as well as of a cultural taste for more musical sophistication.

From Quiz Ring My Bell

Answer: copper and tin

The alloy for Schulmerich and Malmark bells (American) is 80% copper and 20% tin. Whitechapel handbells (English) also have zinc in the alloy. Other famous bells made by the Whitechapel foundry include Big Ben, the Liberty Bell, the bells of Westminster Abbey and "The Clock Bells" of London's St. Paul's Cathedral.

From Quiz Bells and Bellringing

Answer: Maximus

Royal is rung on ten bells, Major on eight, and Minor on six.

From Quiz Can You Ever Have Too Much Cowbell?

Answer: Climate of Hunter

In 1984, Scott Walker was forty years old. He had found fame with The Walker Brothers in the 1960s, then embarked on a fascinating but erratic solo career, reformed The Walker Brothers and disbanded them again, and disappeared almost completely off the radar. His next move was to set the standard by which his future career would be judged. In fact, he'd already laid down the avant-garde gauntlet on the last Walker Brothers album, "Nite Flights", but this was the start of something very, very different from the mawkish stuff he'd ended up doing in the 1970s. The cowbell introduction to "Rawhide" is an apt beginning to a groundbreaking album. About the red herrings, which were all released in 1984: "Grace Under Pressure" is Rush's tenth studio album and saw the band experimenting with new sounds. "Defenders of the Faith" is Judas Priest's ninth album and the end of an era as on their next outing, "Turbo", they would experiment with new sounds too. "Make It Big" was Wham!'s second album and one of the year's top-sellers.

From Quiz A 200-Ton Instrument: The Carillon

Answer: Casting bells that were tuned to particular pitches

The history of bell-casting is long and intricate; many advances made over the centuries were lost when the craftsmen responsible for new tuning methods died. Bell-casting techniques were commonly kept secret by these craftsmen. It was not until the nineteenth century that well-tuned bells (and the knowledge of how to create them) became widely available.

From Quiz Ring My Bell

Answer: waist

The waist of the bell is found just below the lip (open edge) where the bell begins to flare. A small jeweler's mark etched on the inside of the bell casting indicates the optimum strike point of the clapper for the best sound. The fundamental and the 12th overtone are the only partials of the bell tone which are tuned into the casting. The composition of the alloy and the special tuning gives the instrument it's unique timbre.

From Quiz Bells and Bellringing

Answer: Triples

In so-called "odd-bell" methods, the heaviest bell, or tenor, rings at the end of the row throughout. Doubles is rung with five working bells, caters with nine and cinques with eleven.

From Quiz Can You Ever Have Too Much Cowbell?

Answer: Corky Laing

According to legend, Corky Laing's cowbell intro wasn't supposed to be in the song at all but bassist Felix Pappalardi, who was also the band's producer, decided to leave it in, thus making cowbell history. When Mountain broke up due to Pappalardi's drug problems, Mountain guitarist/singer Leslie West and Corky Laing hooked up with ex-Cream bassist Jack Bruce as the unimaginatively named West, Bruce and Laing for two studio albums. Mike D of the Beastie Boys sampled "Mississippi Queen" on the track "Looking Down the Barrel of a Gun" from the album "Paul's Boutique" (1989).

From Quiz Ring My Bell

Answer: martellato

The basic martellato strike has a totally damped sound after the intitial strike. Variations on the martellato technique include the martellato lift or mart-lift. The martellato lift continues to ring (vibrate) after the initial strike because the ringer lifts the bell off the padded table. Be sure to strike only the padded surface of the table!

From Quiz Bells and Bellringing

Answer: treble

The treble is usually - but not always - the lightest bell, while the tenor, with the lowest note, is the heaviest.

From Quiz Peal, Ring and Chime

Answer: An upright piano

A celesta (also spelled celeste) is built like a piano with a standard keyboard triggering hammers which in turn then strike the metal plates. Due to the plates being housed in an enclosure and the hammers having soft felt heads (like those of a piano), the resulting sound is softer than that of a glockenspiel. The celesta is most famously heard on the "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy" from Tchaikovsky's "Nutcracker" ballet and in John Williams' scores for the first two "Harry Potter" movies.

From Quiz A 200-Ton Instrument: The Carillon

Answer: A concert carillon

The 47-bell size is generally considered to be the world standard (unofficially); this is important to composers of carillon music, as naturally they want to produce pieces that can be played on as many instruments as possible.

From Quiz Ring My Bell

Answer: laissez vibrer

Laissez vibrer means to let the bell continue to vibrate after ringing. Normal procedure is to ring the bell for only the note value indicated (quarter note, half note, etc.) and then damp or stop the sound. A laissez vibrer marking suspends the normal rules of damping until further notice. Tower bells are rung "laissez vibrer" because of the safety factor. Pity the poor ringer who tries to damp one of those monsters!

From Quiz Bells and Bellringing

Answer: 82

The weight of a church bell is commonly expressed in terms of hundredweight, quarters and pounds. At the time of writing (August 2002), Liverpool has the heaviest ring of bells in the world, and this is unlikely to change in the foreseeable future.

From Quiz Can You Ever Have Too Much Cowbell?

Answer: Black Sabbath

Black Sabbath's sound can be so overwhelmingly heavy that I'm not sure if Bill Ward used much cowbell or not. He certainly did on "Megalomania" and all Sabs fans just wait with bated breath for the moment it kicks in to signal a change of pace. It's one of those special moments you look forward to in a song you know inside out. Of all the choices only the Sabs formed in England. Accept, who aren't averse to a bit of cowbell, formed in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, in 1976. A fantastic low-key use of cowbell can be found on the track is "Don't Go Stealing My Soul Away" from 1982. Long Island tarts Twisted Sister brought the cowbell back to the fore with their hit "We're Not Gonna Take It" in 1984. Californian rockers Van Halen's 1979 hot song "Dance the Night Away" also sports a nice bit of cowbell.

From Quiz Peal, Ring and Chime

Answer: Richard Strauss

In spite of being called a symphony, this work is actually a tone poem without defined movements. Instead, it consists of twenty-two sections together describing a mountain hike in the Alps. The iconic cowbells are just one of several evocative instruments in this work that also calls for theatrical wind and thunder machines as well as a large orchestra (the brass section alone has 32 players), a celesta and an organ. Most sets of tuned cowbells for orchestral use do not have clappers but are typically mounted in xylophone fashion and played by striking with sticks, allowing for a wider dynamic and tonal expression than the standard hand-ringing.

From Quiz A 200-Ton Instrument: The Carillon

Answer: 20 tons and 10 feet

The Riverside carillon is not only distinguished by having the largest carillon bell, but by being one of the largest carillons by bell-count (74) in the world. It was paid for by the wealthy Rockefeller family.

From Quiz Ring My Bell

Answer: shelley ringing

In 1976, a young high school bell ringer named Shelley Weaver was having a difficult time making the bell changes required of her assignment in a piece of music. She put two bells together in one hand and voila, problem solved. The other ringers began talking about "shelley-ing" the bells when they needed to use the same technique and the art of shelley ringing was born. To execute a shelly ring, two bells are picked up so that the clappers of both are facing forward. When the ringer rings them, both bells sound simultaneously. In 4 in-hand ringing, one bell is rolled so that the clappers face different directions. This enables the ringer to ring the bells separately while holding both in one hand.

From Quiz Bells and Bellringing

Answer: 1715

Rung at St Peter Mancroft, Norwich. Some earlier attempts had used false compositions, in which changes were repeated.

From Quiz Can You Ever Have Too Much Cowbell?

Answer: The Only Ones

How The Only Ones aren't better known than they actually are is a mystery of popular music. Their debut album should have been a classic, and "The Beast" should be on everybody's list of favourite cowbell songs. Of the red herrings, both UFO and Status Quo were formed in London. "Let It Roll" from "Force It" is my favourite UFO cowbell song, and "I'm Giving Up My Worryin'" from the mighty Quo's 1978 album "If You Can't Stand the Heat..." is a great example of old-fashioned cowbell. In 1987 Guns N' Roses went straight into the cowbell hall of fame with "Night Train" from their debut album "Appetite For Destruction".

From Quiz Ring My Bell

Answer: concert C, an octave lower

Although notated in the key of C, concert pitch, handbells are written one octave below where they actually sound. In handbell notation, notated middle C (called C5) is heard as the C an 8ve above middle C. Regardless of notation idioms, handbells are beautiful when heard alone or in combination with other instruments.

From Quiz Bells and Bellringing

Answer: Plain Bob Triples

Grandsire Triples was not rung to a peal until three years later, in 1718, also at St Peter Mancroft. Double Norwich was first pealed at another Norwich tower, St Michael & All Angels, Coslany, in 1741. Cambridge was not pealed until 1873, at Benington in Hertfordshire, owing to the difficulty in getting a true composition.

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Last Updated Nov 01 2025 5:49 AM

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